Beloved wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and friend, Dot Fernald passed away on March 14, 2020 at Powhatan Nursing Center in Falls Church, Virginia. Born in Anthony, Rhode Island on May 10, 1920, she was the only child of Dr. Graydon Smith and Myrtle Umphrey Smith. Dot was raised in Rhode Island and Washburn, Maine. She attended Colby College in Waterville, Maine where she met Clarence Fernald to whom she was married for 46 years prior to his death in 1986.
Dorothy and Clarence raised two daughters in Falls Church City where she lived for 70 years. She was a Sunday School teacher and church librarian at Columbia Baptist Church, and an active citizen with Citizens for a Better City and volunteer work with the PTA.
Dot was an avid amateur genealogist who traced her roots to the prominent Brown and Smith families of Providence, Rhode Island and on her mother’s side to immigrants from England and Sweden. She kept scrapbooks of family pictures and events that span her lifetime.
For many years Dorothy hosted every important family event. Even in her 99th year she was part of holiday gatherings of extended family. She is survived by her daughters, Linda Kangarloo and husband Ahmad of Middletown, Virginia and Carol Mallory and husband Walt of Falls Church, Virginia. Grandsons Jonathan Kangarloo and wife Andrea of Fairfax, Virginia, and Jason Kangarloo and wife Lauren of Potomac Falls, Virginia. Granddaughters Jennifer Kangarloo of Washington, D.C., Beth Mallory and husband Bill Harlow of Falls Church, Virginia, and Sara Mallory and husband Fred Shahidi of Hamilton, Virginia. Great-granddaughters Kaylin Kangarloo and Harper Kangarloo of Potomac Falls, Virginia. She is also survived by her nephews Glen Fernald of Richmond, Virginia, Ray Fernald of Midlothian, Virginia, Marshall Fernald of Alexandria, Virginia; her cousin Robert Umphrey and wife Donna of Presque Isle, Maine, and her devoted caretaker, Erlinda Nascimi.
Burial will be private in Falls Church, Virginia. A memorial service will be announced in the future.
Memorial remembrances may be made to Columbia Baptist Church, AARP or Colby College.
